Various different types of coverings exist for placement in architectural openings, such as windows, doors, archways and the like. Such coverings include roman shades as illustrated in FIG. 1. Roman shades comprise a covering 10, often formed of woven wood, that is placed in an architectural opening. As shown in FIG. 1, a roman shade includes a head rail assembly 12 that not only mounts the shade within the opening, but also provides a control mechanism for raising and lowering the shade as desired. The control mechanism includes vertical cords 14 that extend from the head rail assembly to the hem of the shade where they are connected to the shade. The cords are also slidingly connected to the shade at regular intervals 16 from the hem to the head rail, for instance by the use of rings connected at regular intervals along a vertical length of the shade, often in conjunction with horizontally placed battens or dowels 18. At the head rail 12, the cords are windingly received around a roller tube 15 and, as the tube is rotated, the cords are wrapped around the tube 15. This causes the shade 10 to fold and gather at the sliding connections 16 between the cords and the fabric as the cord 14 is wrapped on the roller tube 15, and the shade is raised such that the fabric hangs in a plurality of pleats having a desired drop length.
Rotating the roller of the head assembly in one direction causes the shade to extend and rotating the roller in an opposite direction causes the shade to retract. The roller is usually controlled by a manually driven control mechanism, though automatic mechanisms can also be used. Roman shades often include a variety of aesthetically appealing components, such as a valence 20 as illustrated in FIG. 2 that can cover all or part of the head rail and shade 10.
Unfortunately, the utilization of cords on shade coverings can lead to several undesirable characteristics. For instance, the cords can become tangled and can also become entangled with other objects, which can be problematic. In an attempt to alleviate such problems, roman shades have been formed such that the distance between lift points is be less than 8 inches, so as to decrease the distance between attachment points when the shade is lowered, preventing accidental entanglement with the cord. The limited distance between lift points can lead to the formation of additional pleats when the shade is raised and undesirable thickness of the raised shade, particularly when considering thicker shade materials such as woven wood. Additionally, no matter what the spacing between lift points on a shade, utilization of cords can form a visible line when viewed from the front of the shade, which can also be less than desirable.
In view of the above, a need currently exists for a roman shade that does not utilize lift cords while also providing an aesthetically pleasing presentation.